.

Epilogue: The Greatest Adventure
The Greatest Adventure is what lies ahead,
today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes, are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.
~Jules Bass

~~The March Caprice~~

Alice parted her way through the hedges, coming upon a white fence. Well, this certainly wasn't the way home, either.

She turned to leave, but, off in the distance, she heard the sound of an uproarious melody.

"A very merry unbirthday to me!"

"Next time, don't let your guard down because of a pair of big, goo-goo eyes!" Phil admonished angrily.

Hercules screwed up his face for a response, before he caught sight of the goo-goo eyes in question, staring back at him from beside the lake.

Then he didn't hear Phil at all for awhile.

Tarzan, guiding Jane loosely by the shoulders, slid expertly atop the massive, twisting vines across Deep Jungle. When they reached the apex of the vines, at the tip of the waterfall, Tarzan let out a deep, victorious gorilla yell.

Jane followed his example admirably.

"Do you trust me?"

Jasmine looked up at Aladdin, atop his carpet, and took his outstretched hand.

"Yes."

"Well, then I can show you the world."

Laughter and dance filled Geppeto's house, as Pinocchio was held tightly in his father's spinning grip.

He was a real boy. And neither of them would be alone now.

Ariel had swum to the surface to see what the giant shadow that had passed over her grotto had been. Now, she watched as a handsome, black haired man—without fins-directed the path of this giant, wooden ship; like a real, living version of the sunken ship in the canyon.

If only she could go...closer...

Jack Skellington laughed as all the little children screamed and ducked and hid at the spooky climax to his thrilling story. Sally smiled sweetly from behind the group. Jack only grinned wider. This was what he lived for.

This was Halloween.

"Mommy! Mommy! I saw him again! The Green Boy! He was talking to a girl on the Clocktower! Oh, mommy, do you think they're in love?"

Winnie the Pooh, honey pot in hand, led the group of his dear friends toward the Viewing Hill.

They were going to try and count the stars again tonight. He was sure they'd be able to do it, with all of them counting together.

"Hey, everyone! Look who I found!" Aerith smiled with singsong announcement as she entered the library of Hollow Bastion, as the entire impromptu meeting of the "Restoration Committee" (as Leon was calling the five of them now), turned to her.

Infected by the elegance of the castle's ages past, Aerith took a bow and stepped away, revealing a stoic Cloud, eyes taking in the room from above the cape tucked up to his face.

"CLOUD!" Yuffie screeched, thrilled, and dove forward, knocking a few books from their shelves and causing Merlin to chuckle, as Leon shook his head in disbelief.

But as she jumped, Aerith's heart froze when Cloud pulled out that sword, his Tsurugi, and pointed it at poor little Yuffie, looking so small beside it, stopping her in her tracks.

The library immediately dropped to complete silence, as Yuffie's face fell. Aerith sighed.

"Sorry. Force of habit." Cloud dipped the sword to the ground, his eyes following after.

But it was only a moment before Yuffie bounced back and grinned wide, "Now we just need Vincy and Tifa and we'll be all together again!"

"We won't all be together. Ever." Leon turned back to the bookcase he had been looking through, "Not anymore."

Aerith frowned deeper. Why did Squall always have to-

"All the same..." Leon nodded over his shoulder, "It's good to have you back, Cloud."

The Mayor of Destiny Islands couldn't help but wonder why his daughter watched the ocean so much nowadays.

By Sora's reckoning it was maybe almost December. Maybe. Give or take a few days. Or weeks. It wasn't like he was good at this, after all. He'd need to ask Jiminy.

The almost-just-starting-to-turn leaves of the trees, scattered around the endless green field, led him to believe he was right, though; but why would other worlds follow the same seasons? Weren't seasons decided by, like, the...ah...Sora frowned, realizing he didn't actually remember how weather worked. This was why he needed Kairi.

Was this even another world? All he knew was that when the Endless Abyss had dissolved around them, and all the worlds reformed, the three of them had been deposited in this measureless green field, with just a single brown, dirt path stretching through it.

"Well, now what do we do?" Donald asked, sighing as they started to climb a hill.

It wasn't the first time one of them had asked that question, but no one had yet had a real answer, only a vague goal.

"We gotta find Riku and the King." Sora responded, walking lazily, with his hands behind his head.

"But, uh," Goofy spoke up, "Where do we start looking for that there door to the light?"

That was it: the way to light and back into the Realm of Darkness to get their friends, then back home; back to Kairi.

"This way?" Sora shrugged, pointing down the brown dirt road as they crested the hill. The path unrolled onward, seemingly forever, endlessly dividing a sea of green as far as the eye could see. It meandered and twisted through field upon field, before disappearing behind another hill in the far distance.

But above it all, beyond all the distance and unknown, the same sky, shared by every world, still lay stretched out in a welcoming, shocking, familiar blue.

And somehow, that comforted Sora.

Wherever they went, it was still the same sky. One sky they could all look too, one sky they all shared, one sky he knew Kairi was watching and under which he'd find Riku again.

Donald gasped, "Sora! This road goes on forever!"

"Probably." Sora's face shone with excitement as he grinned, "Wanna race?"

Donald massaged his forehead, with a great groan, "Why're we stuck with you..."

"Gawrsh, how do you know this is the way, Sora?" Goofy asked.

"'I just do." Sora turned and, gripping Kairi's star-shaped charm tightly in his hand, sprinted off.

"What a terrific reason..." Donald groaned, but still chased after him.

And thus they ran, deeper and further into the Plains of Infinity, continuing onward into an unknown future-

Simply following their hearts.

Thinking of You, Wherever You Are.